Why do my mashed potato cakes fall apart?

If the potato cakes are falling apart because they are too wet it might not have enough flour . Troubleshoot this by adding more flour 1 tablespoon at a time until you get a better consistency, the mixture should be somewhat wet and will have a slight stickiness but you also don't want it falling apart.

How to keep potato pancakes from falling apart?

Thoroughly squeezing the moisture out of the shredded potatoes prior to cooking is how you keep potato pancakes from falling apart.

Why are my potato cakes soggy?

If you find that your potato pancakes often come out too soggy, a lack of heat is the most likely culprit.

What to do if you put too much milk in mashed potatoes?

Add a Thickening Agent This is the most common way to thicken mashed potatoes. You can use what you have on hand: Flour, cornstarch, or powdered milk are all solid options that are probably already in your pantry. Potato flour and potato starch would work as well.

Why are my potato cakes not sticking together?

If the potato pancakes are falling apart while you're shaping them before you start cooking, they are either either too wet or they need more flour to hold them together . You can also mix the flour a little more the mix to develop gluten and then let it rest before cooking.

How do you make a cake not fall apart?

Mixing properly can be a tricky dance. You need to incorporate enough air during the creaming process to achieve a light and fluffy cake, without over or undermixing. Incorporate too little air and your cake won't rise enough. Too much air and your cake will collapse because it simply can't hold onto all that air.

How do you keep mashed potatoes from falling apart?

You Add Potato Pieces to Boiling Water Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. You do not want to leave the water boiling for long. The aggressive temperature and rolling bubbles will cause the potatoes to fall apart. Cook just until tender, and drain.

How do you keep potatoes from falling apart?

Most often, then, the solution to evenly cooked potatoes is cooking them twice : First, boil, steam, or steam-roast (a fancy term for cooking them with water in the oven) until they're mostly tender but not fall-apart finished. Second, brown the outsides and finish cooking the interiors on the stovetop or in the oven.

Why do cakes turn out crumbly?

Cakes crumble because they've dried out too much. From years of baking, I know that dry cakes happen for one of two reasons; using too much of your dry ingredients or over-baking your cake.

How do you keep mashed potatoes from breaking?

Heat the water in your pot to a low simmer and place a heatproof bowl on top (metal ones work best as glass might break). Make sure the water is below the bottom of the bowl. Add your mashed potatoes to the bowl and keep the heat on low. Cover the bowl with a lid.

Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes Recipe - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

October 22, 2019August 16, 2023

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Five ingredients is all it takes to make Granny’s Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes. Using a base of your favorite leftover real mashed potatoes, you can easily make this economical side dish that the whole family will love.

Table of Contents

Real Mashed Potato Cake Recipe

Where did Granny’s Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes recipe come from? You guessed it, my granny. She was the mother of eight hungry children, five of which were boys.Did I mention that they were dairy farmers, and the kids got up extra early to milk the cows? There wasn’t a lot of extra money sitting around, so Granny made every meal count.

Mashed Potato Cakes are an economical way to use up leftover mashed potatoes.You’ve already made those delicious mashed potatoes, so don’t let the leftovers go to waste.Make a whole new side dish from the leftovers.

My friend Maryann’s grandma also re-purposed her mashed potatoes but she used them in a potato salad! Maryann was nice enough to share the recipe with me so you can try it too! (Check out her sweet cornbread recipe too.)

Old-Fashioned Potato Cakes

This is an old fashioned potato cake recipe. Granny used onion juice (grated onions), beaten egg and bread crumbs. It’s a very basic recipe because using real mashed potatoes that are already flavorful and delicious creates an easy base. You don’t have to add a bunch of crazy ingredients to make them yummy. With that being said, feel free to add all those crazy ingredients (chives, cheese, parsley, etc.) if you desire.

While we serve ours without any toppings, you can definitely serve them with applesauce or sour cream similar to potato latkes. Honestly, if you have some leftover gravy in the refrigerator, that would make a great dipping sauce for these!

I found this “bonus” recipe on the back of a recipe card that Granny had given me. The front of the card was Granny’s Homemade Brownie Recipe.She included this Leftover Real Mashed Potato Cake recipe on back. Seeing her scratchy writing puts a little tear in my eye.We had a routine. I would go visit her, and while we were chatting, I would flip through her cookbooks.What I wouldn’t give to do that one last time.

Ingredient List for Potato Pancakes

Large Egg
Onion Juice
Leftover Mashed Potatoes
Bread Crumbs
Vegetable Oil

How to Make Mashed Potato Pancakes (with real potatoes)

Step By Step Instructions

Stir together egg and onion juice in a small bowl.
Add beaten egg to leftover mashed potatoes. Add bread crumbs, a little at a time until the potatoes are thick enough to form into balls.
Form into 2-inch patties.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Fry mashed potato pancakes until golden brown; flip and do the same on the other side. Do not peak, and only flip once to prevent mashed potato cake from falling apart, and to allow a golden brown crust to form. You’ll know they are ready to flip when a brown crust starts to form around the edges of the potato cake.
Serve hot.

Storage Instructions

Let leftovers cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.

Why do potato cakes fall apart when frying?

If you start with a very creamy mashed potato, you’ll need to add enough binder ingredients to hold them together. The beaten egg and breadcrumbs act as the binder in our mashed potato cakes. I recommend starting with 1 Tablespoon of breadcrumbs and add more slowly until the mashed potatoes are capable of forming a ball.

Another reason the potato pancakes fall apart is because you are moving or flipping them too often. Do not move them around and only flip them once. You’ll see the brown crust forming around the edge in the oil. If you move them around, the crust will not form.

What can I add to mashed potato pancakes?

Granny’s Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes are very basic. The mashed potato base should already be flavorful, so we only add grated onion and bread crumbs to thicken it up.

You could easily jazz up leftover potato pancakes in a hundred different ways. Try adding garlic powder, shredded cheese, chives, parsley or anything your heart desires.

Recipe FAQs

Talk about economical! This recipe uses leftover mashed potatoes and creates a whole new side dish, mashed potato cakes. And it is only 5 ingredients!
To get onion juice, grate the onion. This gives the flavor of onion without the texture. Feel free to finely dice the onion or use 1 teaspoon onion powder.
Our mashed potato pancakes are without flour. Some old fashioned potato cakes use flour instead of breadcrumbs.That is perfectly fine. Start with a couple Tablespoons of flour and work up if needed.
Fry up the leftover potato cake in vegetable oil or butter. Your preference.
This flourless potato pancakes recipe starts with approximately 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes. If you have more or less, adjust the egg, onion and breadcrumbs accordingly.
If you need a starter recipe for the mashed potatoes, we recommend MeMe’s Mashed Potato Recipe from Southern Plate.
This is a great way to use Thanksgiving leftovers.
Check out our Amazon store for our favorite kitchen items and pantry essentials.

Recipe Variations

Add fresh herbs such as parsley or thyme to the mashed potato mixture.
Swap onion juice for green onions.
Cheese is always a great addition. Try adding shredded shredded cheddar cheese or Parmesan cheese to the mixture.
Season as desired with salt and black pepper.
Serve with a dallop of applesauce or cranberry sauce.

Old Fashioned Potato Recipes

Potatoes are one ingredient that our family – both young and old – never complain about. So here are some of our favorite recipes that feature potatoes.

Crispy Friend Potatoes

4 Ingredient Crock Pot Cheesy Potatoes

Cheesy Potatoes with Bacon

Potato Casserole with Rice Krispies

Instant Pot Potato Soup

Mom’s Ham and Cheesy Potato Casserole

How do you spruce up day old mashed potatoes?

Add a beaten egg, chopped onion, fresh herbs and some type of bread crumbs (crackers, panko, store-bought bread crumbs) and form into patties. Fry in a large skillet in vegetable oil until crisp on both sides.

Print Recipe

5 from 3 votes

Granny’s Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes

Five ingredients is all it takes to make Granny's Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes.

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time10 minutes mins

Total Time15 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Keyword: flourless potato pancakes, Granny’s Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes, how do you make potato cakes from scratch, leftover real mashed potato cake, Mashed Potato Cakes, Mashed Potato Pancakes, mashed potato pancakes without flour, real mashed potato cake recipe

Servings: 8 cakes

Calories: 101kcal

Author: Barbara

Ingredients

2 cups leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon onion juice
2 Tablespoons breadcrumbs
2-3 Tablespoons vegetable oil or butter

Instructions

Heat butter or vegetable oil in large skillet over medium heat.
Add beaten egg and onion juice and mix. Slowly add breadcrumbs starting with 1 Tablespoon. Add breadcrumbs until potato mixture is thick enough to form a ball about the size of a golf ball.
Smash ball to form a 2 inch in diameter pancake, and gently add to the hot oil.
Fry until golden brown, approximately 2-3 minutes. Do not move or flip until completely golden brown. You will see the crust forming around the edge of the pancake.
Flip once, and fry the other side until golden brown. Serve hot.

Video

Notes

Talk about economical! This recipe uses leftover mashed potatoes and creates a whole new side dish, mashed potato cakes. And it only is only 5 ingredients!
Granny’s Leftover Mashed Potato Cakes are very basic. The mashed potato base should already be flavorful, so we only add grated onion and bread crumbs to thicken it up.
- You could easily jazz up leftover potato pancakes in a hundred different ways. Try adding garlic powder, shredded cheese, chives, parsley or anything your heart desires.
To get onion juice, grate the onion. This gives the flavor of onion without the texture. Feel free to finely dice the onion or use 1 teaspoon onion powder.
Why do your potato cakes fall apart when frying? If you start with a very creamy mashed potato, you’ll need to add enough binder ingredients to hold them together. The beaten egg and breadcrumbs act as the binder in our mashed potato cakes. I recommend starting with 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs and go up until the mashed potatoes are capable of forming into a ball.
Another reason the potato pancakes fall apart is because you are moving or flipping them too often. Do not move, and only flip once. You’ll see the brown crust forming around the edge in the oil. If you move them around, the crust will not form.
Some old fashioned potato cakes use flour instead of breadcrumbs. That is perfectly great. Start with a couple tablespoons and work up if needed.
Fry up the leftover potato cake in vegetable oil or butter. Your preference.
This leftover mashed potato pancake recipe starts with approximately 2 cups leftover mashed potatoes. If you have more or less, adjust the egg, onion and breadcrumbs accordingly.
Looking for more potato recipes? Try our 4 Ingredient Crock Pot Cheesy Potatoes, Cheesy Potatoes with Bacon, Instant Pot Potato Soup and Mom’s Ham and Cheesy Potato Casserole.
The nutritional information below is auto-calculated and can vary depending on the products used.

Nutrition

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